


You're so Sweet, I'm Getting Cavities

by tsukkiaf (haizukis)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Dentist AU, Kenma has more of a cameo if anything, M/M, Tsukishima gets his wisdom teeth taken out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-01
Updated: 2015-06-01
Packaged: 2018-04-02 07:38:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4051813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haizukis/pseuds/tsukkiaf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“See? No pain.” </p><p>Kei looks up at Kuroo. Only his eyes show above his mask, but Kei can tell he’s smiling. He feels a warmth spread throughout his chest, and suddenly he feels his fear of dentists fade away. </p><p>“Lev, can you hand me the drill?” </p><p> <i>Nope. There it is. </i></p>
            </blockquote>





	You're so Sweet, I'm Getting Cavities

Kei bites into his cake and winces as a sharp pain shoots through his jaw. He brings his hand to cheek, pressing his thumb into the skin as if that would make the pain stop.

“What’s wrong?” Akiteru asks as he swallows a mouthful of frosting.

“Nothing,” Kei replies instantly, intent on finishing his desert.

“Oh yeah,” Akiteru mocks in a faux-deep voice, bringing his hand to his cheek and cradling it as though he were in pain. “Nothing.” He glares into the distance, mimicking Kei.

Kei uses the side of his fork to separate another bite-sized piece of strawberry short cake. He takes it into his mouth and tries to bite on it with his molars, but a similar flash of pain causes him to drop his fork to his plate.

Akiteru points his fork at his brother, smiling apologetically. “Nothing, huh?”

~

Kei sits stiffly in his chair. The dentist’s office smells like new furniture and sterile tissue. Looking over the pictures of people with beautiful smiles hung all over the walls, Kei idly wonders how they could possibly be so happy at a dentist’s office.

“Are you going to be okay?” Akiteru questions. “You look like you’re about to pass out.”

“I’m fine,” Kei mumbles.

Akiteru drops into a more serious tone. “Do you need me in there with you?”

Kei looks at his brother to find not an ounce of sarcasm in his eyes. “I’m okay, Akiteru.”

Akiteru gives Kei a reassuring smile just as a small woman peers from behind the counter, calling Kei in.

He stands and walks past her through the door, willing himself to stay calm. The woman leads him to one of the three stations and motions for him to sit down on a large brown chair with squashy cushions and a thin sheet running the length of it. The paper crinkles loudly as he sits and adjusts himself.

The woman reappears with a paper bib which she attaches around Kei’s neck deftly. “Dr. Kuroo will be with you in a second.”

Kei nods and leans back in his chair. He tries to distract himself by counting how many tiles are above him, but nothing can take his mind off of the terrible feeling in his stomach. He glances behind him to see the array of tools that he’ll be probed with. He feels his palms getting clammy and he closes his eyes.

He hears multiple pairs of sneakers against the linoleum floor and the sound of latex gloves being pulled on. He slowly opens his eyes to find the dental assistant already seated and flipping through Kei’s manila folder file.

“You haven’t been to the dentist in four years, Tsukishima?” the assistant questions. He has shorter grey hair and bright green eyes which remind Tsukishima of a stray cat that used to run around his neighborhood.

Tsukishima shakes his head as he watches the man thumb through papers.

The assistant clicks his tongue disapprovingly. “Let’s take some x-rays.” He stands and walks over to a looming gray machine with Kei following suit. He adjusts the machine to Kei’s height and instructs him to step forward and bite down on the clear piece of plastic jutting out front the chin rest. The x-ray is over before he can begin to worry and the assistant tells him he can go back to his chair.

“Dr. Kuroo, the patient is ready.”

Kei clenches his fist.

  _It’s just a filling. They’re going to numb you. You won’t feel it. It’s going to be oka–_

“Hello Tsukishima,” the dentist greets as he sits down on Kei’s right.

The first thing Kei notices is the dentist’s hair. It is definitely the most unkempt hair Kei has ever seen on a professional. It looks as though the dentist had just gotten out of bed and strolled to his office without so much as glancing into a mirror.

“Lev, bring me the chart,” Kuroo says as he pulls a thin doctors mask over his mouth and nose.

The assistant - Lev, Kuroo had called him- returns and seats himself in the chair next to Kei, opposite of Kuroo. He hands over a single sheet of paper with a diagram of teeth on it. An angry, red X is marked on one of the molars.

“Alright,” Kuroo says, handing the document back to Lev. He presses a button on the back of the chair, leaning it back. “How are you Tsukishima?”

Kei looks up at the dentist as the chair shifts. He looks young, no older than twenty-five. His eyes seem to be analyzing his every move, every breath.

“I–I’m okay,” Kei answers, his voice threatening to crack.

Kuroo smirks as he turns on the blinding light above Kei.

_What an asshole._

Kei closes his eyes and clenches his fists hard enough to feel his nails digging into his palms. He opens his mouth and flinches at the feeling of cool metal against his lips. He hears the small air sucker power up as a small q-tip covered in some sort of gel is rubbed against his gums.

“We’re going to numb you, okay?” Kuroo says in soothing and reassuring voice. “We've already numbed the outer gum with the gel, but now we’re going to inject the anesthesia.” Kuroo notices Kei’s eyebrows pulled tightly together. “It won’t hurt, I promise.”

Kei opens one eye to catch a glimpse a a needle being held up to the light. He squeezes his eyes shut and waits for the sharp pain of the needle, but it never comes. He feels a dull pressure against his gums in intervals, slowly moving downwards. He opens his eyes once again to see the plunger pushed all the way down.

“See? No pain.”

Kei looks up at Kuroo. Only his eyes show above his mask, but Kei can tell he’s smiling. He feels a warmth spread throughout his chest, and suddenly he feels his fear of dentists fade away.

“Lev, can you hand me the drill?”

_Nope. There it is._

~

It’s not as bad as Kei thought it would be. The entire procedure takes only twenty minutes.

“Tsukishima, can you stay here a bit longer?” Kuroo asks. “I want to bring our oral surgeon in to see what he think of your wisdom teeth.”

Kuroo stands and pokes his head into a doorway on the opposite side of the room. He returns moments later with a smaller, white coat clad man. He has longer, straight hair which was probably all blonde at one point, but has now grown out revealing brown roots, reminding Kei of pudding.

Kei leans back and opens his mouth again. He feels another cool piece of metal prodding his gums.

“See what I mean? All of them are coming in. There's no room.”

“He needs them out. They’ll just cause him more pain as time goes on.”

“Yeah,” Kuroo claps his hands together. “Alright, Tsukki! You’re done for today.”

_Tsukki?_

Kuroo turns to the oral surgeon. “Can you go talk to his brother?”

The surgeon nods and leaves to find the other Tsukishima in the waiting room.

Kuroo presses a button on the chair, putting it back into its original position. He reaches and unclips the bib from Kei’s neck. “You’re going to need to get all your wisdom teeth out. So you’ll need to have oral surgery.”

Kei’s eyes widen.

“Don’t worry,” Kuroo says waving his hand. “They knock you out. One minute you’re sitting in that giant chair all hooked up to machines, the next, you’re at home on you couch with cotton in your mouth. Dr. Kozume will be taking care of you, but I’ll be there to assist.”

“Do I have to?” Kei asks, feeling his hands becoming clammy again.  

Kuroo narrows his eyes playfully as he peels off his gloves. “You don’t like the dentist, do you?”

Kei presses his lips into a thin line and shakes his head. “I hate it.”

“It’s alright,” Kuroo chuckles, briefly touching Kei’s wrist. “We’ll take care of you. Meet me at the front to schedule your surgery.”

The warmth returns to Kei’s chest. He mumbles out a thank you and rejoins Akiteru in the waiting room.

“How was it?” Akiteru asks, rising from his chair.

“Not as bad as I thought it would be,” Kei answers. “Did you hear about my wisdom teeth?”

“Yeah. Can I film you afterwards?”

“No,” Kei deadpans. “Anyways, I still need to schedule my appointment.”

He crosses to the desk to find Kuroo typing into the computer. While Akiteru sets up sets up the appointment, Kei watches Kuroo talk to his brother. Kei can't help but think that Kuroo's pretty good looking, despite his unruly hair. His thin lips are suited for his sly smile and his narrow eyes are analytical, yet somehow comforting to Kei. He traces his eyes along his strong jaw and barely notices Akiteru jabbing his elbow into Kei's arm.

"Is the 17th okay?" Kuroo asks looking up at Kei.

Kei glances down at the calendar beneath Kuroo's spread palm and nods jerkily.

“Alright,” Kuroo grins. “I’ll see you then.”

~

Kei could barely sleep the night before the surgery. He laid in bed tossing and turning, imagining the mask being put over his face and the world fading to black as surgeons carelessly cut his gums open. He winced at the thought.

He walks into the office, his heart pounding in his ears. Kei had the only appointment that day, as most of his office hours were taken up with his procedure. Unease sinking in his stomach, he looks around the too-quiet waiting room.

He tries to distract himself as much as possible, playing songs in his head, listing all the dinosaurs in the Jurassic period and even creating a volleyball game simulation as they prep him for surgery.  

"Okay, Tsukishima," a dental assistant coaxes as she puts a small plastic mask attached to a tube over his mouth. "Take slow, deep breaths."

He doesn't even remember blacking out.

~

Kei doesn't remember the drive home, either. He sits at the kitchen table, spooning red Jell-O into his aching mouth.

"Hey," Akiteru greets, carrying his laptop. He slides into the seat adjacent to Kei’s.  “How’re you feeling?”

“Like crap,” Kei replies, putting his spoon down. “I just want to eat something besides Jell-O and soup.”

“I have something to cheer you up,” Akiteru says, turning the laptop screen towards Kei.

“Oh no,” Kei mutters, seeing a frozen frame of himself on the screen. His eyes are heavy lidded and his mouth is swollen and gaping. “I told you not to film me.”

“I know, but seriously, I think you need to see this video.” 

“Akiteru, I really don’t want to see mys-”

The older boy presses play and Kei pushes his hands to his temples, closing his eyes tightly.

~

_“Kei,” Akiteru says from behind the camera, “How are you feeling?”_

_“I’m...I’m great!” Kei laughs, slapping his knee. The cotton stuffed in his mouth makes him sound muffled. “I’m a-okay.” He smiles for a bit, touching each of his fingers to his thumbs, one at a time._

_A door opens and closes in the background and the camera quickly turns to see the dentist with the dark messy hair enter the room. He holds his hand up in a greeting and the camera turns back to Kei._

_He’s still smiling and humming to himself. He stops humming and looks straight into the camera.  His dreamy expression slowly twists into one of grief. Kei begins crying, fat tears rolling down his cheeks. His nose turns a light shade of pink as he takes his glasses off and wipes his eyes with the backs of his hands. The camera shakes as Akiteru stifles his laughter._

_“K-Kei,” Akiteru stammers, “What’s wrong?”_

_Kei swallows thickly before speaking. “The di-dinothaurths didn’t destherve to d-d-die!” He breaks down, turning his head to sob into his pillow._

Kei groans, turning away from the screen.

“Kei, watch.”

“Do I have to?”

“Yes.”

Kei shakes his head and turns back to the video.  

_“Hey Tsukishima,” Kuroo says approaching the patient's bed. “How are you feeling?”_

_Kei looks up at the dentist with bleary eyes. “Will you sss..sthing with me?”_

_Before Kuroo can answer him Kei closes his eyes and begins singing loudly._

_“Living in my own world… didn’t underthand… that anything could happen.. dun dun dun dun…  when you take a chanth.”_

“Am I singing High School Musical?” Kei asks, cringing.  

_Kuroo shakes his head and smirks. He steps in closer to Kei. “Say ‘ah.’ ”_

_Kei looks at Kuoo giddily and smiles. His eyes are starry. “Ahhh..”_

_Kuroo shines a small light in his mouth, examining the empty sockets. He pulls out a small note pad and begins scribbling.  “Alright, everything looks good I’ll just prescribe you some painkillers and you wi-”_

_“You’re really hot. Did you know that?”_

Kei’s heart stops. “Akiteru, please tell me I didn’t.”

Akiteru presses a fist to his lips. “You did.”

_Akiteru snorts from off screen._

_Kuroo looks down at the patient, an unsure smile plastered on his face. “Well, ah than-”_

_“Like really, really attractive. I think… I think you might be the most beautiful person ever.”_

Kei swifty shuts the laptop close and puts his head down on the table. “What happened afterwards?”

“You started asking why your face was so wet,” Akiteru says. “We left a little bit after that.”

The two sit in silence for a moment before Kei speaks up. 

“Can we switch dentists?”

Akiteru laughs. “No.”

~

Kei lays down on his bed, mulling over the fact that he confessed to his dentist after trying to sing with him.

How could he ever step into that office again?

He sighs and rolls over on his bed. He feels a dull pain beginning in his empty gum sockets and glances at the time. He counts back the hours since his last dosage of pain medication and figures he should be fine to take more pills.

He sits up in bed, pressing his index fingers to the sides of his nose. He finds the brown bag containing his medication and quickly downs the pills with a glass of water from lunch. He puts the glass down and eyes a small red bag tucked in the corner of his desk.

He reaches for it and examines the small white label on the front of the bag.

_Dr. Tetsuro Kuroo_ _Nekoma Dental Group_

Kei opens the bag and takes the items out one by one. It’s a standard dental visit bag: a toothbrush, a mini toothpaste tube, floss, and a small card containing the office info. Kei takes the card and scans the information. He runs his finger over the type as he makes his way back to his bed and notices raised ridges along the card. He flips it over to find someone had written on the backside. He scans the messy scrawl followed by a phone number and buries his face into his pillow.

_don’t forget to floss (;_

_Dr. Kuroo_

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> of course, special thanks to my betas, [shefali](http://kurooofficial.tumblr.com/) & [olivia](http://pxriodic.tumblr.com/)!!
> 
> and as always, special shout out to the Kurotsuki skype group! You guys always help me develop these amazing ideas and my fics wouldn't come to life without you guys


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